Tafseer of The Light · An-Noor · 24:3
The fornicator does not marry except a [female] fornicator or polytheist, and none marries her except a fornicator or a polytheist, and that has been made unlawful to the believers.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The exegetes differed concerning the interpretation of this verse. Some said: this verse came down concerning certain people who asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ for permission to marry women who, among the polytheists (ahl al-shirk), were known for fornication (zinā) — women with banners who hired themselves out. Allah forbade them to the believers and said: a believing man who commits fornication (zānin) marries only a woman who commits fornication (zāniya) or a polytheist woman (mushrika), because they were such; and a woman who commits fornication (zāniya) among those fornicating women (baghāyā) is married only by a fornicating believing man or a polytheist (mushrik), because they were polytheist women (mushrikāt). وَحُرِّمَ ذَلِكَ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ (and that is forbidden to the believers) — according to the view of the adherents of this opinion, Allah by this verse forbade marriage with them.
Mention of those who said this:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: al-Muʿtamir related to us, on the authority of his father, who said: al-Ḥaḍramī related to me, on the authority of al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad, on the authority of ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAmr — that a man from among the Muslims asked the Prophet of Allah ﷺ for permission concerning a woman named Umm Mahzūl, who used to receive men for sexual intercourse (sāfiḥat al-rijāl) and stipulated that she would maintain him financially. He asked the Prophet of Allah ﷺ for permission concerning her and told him her situation. The Prophet of Allah ﷺ then recited: وَالزَّانِيَةُ لا يَنْكِحُهَا إِلا زَانٍ أَوْ مُشْرِكٌ (a woman who commits fornication is married only by a man who commits fornication or a polytheist); or he said: then came down الزَّانِيَةُ (the woman who commits fornication).
Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to me, on the authority of al-Taymī, on the authority of al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad, on the authority of ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAmr, concerning الزَّانِي لا يَنْكِحُ إلا زَانِيَةً أَوْ مُشْرِكَةً وَالزَّانِيَةُ لا يَنْكِحُهَا إِلا زَانٍ أَوْ مُشْرِكٌ — he said: they were well-known women. He said: poor Muslim men would marry one of them so that she could maintain them financially, but Allah forbade them that.
He said: Sulaymān al-Taymī informed us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab — he said: they were women who carried water in Medina.
Aḥmad ibn al-Miqdam related to us, saying: al-Muʿtamir related to us — he said: I heard my father say: Qatāda related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, concerning this verse وَالزَّانِيَةُ لا يَنْكِحُهَا إِلا زَانٍ أَوْ مُشْرِكٌ — he said: it came down concerning women who carried water (mawārid) and lived in Medina.
Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Dāwūd related to us, on the authority of a man, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Saʿīd — he said: Marthad had, in the pre-Islamic time (jāhiliyya), a girlfriend named ʿAnāq, and he was a strong man who was also called Duldal (water-jug). He traveled to Mecca and carried weak Muslims to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. There he met his girlfriend, who invited him to herself. He said: Allah has forbidden fornication. She said: then let us go outside. He feared that she would spread this around and returned to Medina. He went to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said: O Messenger of Allah, I had a girlfriend in the jāhiliyya — do you see for me a marriage with her? Then Allah revealed: الزَّانِي لا يَنْكِحُ إلا زَانِيَةً أَوْ مُشْرِكَةً وَالزَّانِيَةُ لا يَنْكِحُهَا إِلا زَانٍ أَوْ مُشْرِكٌ . He said: they were well-known women, who were called al-Qilqiyyāt.
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Ibrāhīm ibn Muhājir — he said: I heard Mujāhid say concerning this verse الزَّانِي لا يَنْكِحُ إلا زَانِيَةً أَوْ مُشْرِكَةً — he said: they were fornicating women (baghāyā) in the jāhiliyya.
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Hishām ibn ʿUrwa, on the authority of his father; and Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī; and Ibn Abī Dhiʾb, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās — he said: they were fornicating women (baghāyā) in the jāhiliyya, at whose doors stood banners such as those that stood at a veterinarian's, by which they were recognized.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Qays ibn Saʿd, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās — he said: well-known fornicating women; Allah forbade marriage with them — only a fornicator from among the believers or a polytheist from among the polytheists marries them.
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning الزَّانِي لا يَنْكِحُ إلا زَانِيَةً أَوْ مُشْرِكَةً وَالزَّانِيَةُ لا يَنْكِحُهَا إِلا زَانٍ أَوْ مُشْرِكٌ وَحُرِّمَ ذَلِكَ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ — he said: there were houses in the jāhiliyya called mawākhīr (brothels), where one would hire out one's slave-women; they were well-known houses for fornication, which only a fornicator from among the people of the qibla or a polytheist from among the idolaters would enter; Allah forbade that to the believers.
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ — concerning الزَّانِي لا يَنْكِحُ إلا زَانِيَةً أَوْ مُشْرِكَةً وَالزَّانِيَةُ لا يَنْكِحُهَا إِلا زَانٍ أَوْ مُشْرِكٌ : he said — well-known fornicating women in the jāhiliyya; the fornicating woman of the clan of so-and-so, the fornicating woman of the clan of so-and-so. Allah then revealed الزَّانِي لا يَنْكِحُ إلا زَانِيَةً أَوْ مُشْرِكَةً وَالزَّانِيَةُ لا يَنْكِحُهَا إِلا زَانٍ أَوْ مُشْرِكٌ وَحُرِّمَ ذَلِكَ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ — Allah thereby ruled on the matter of the jāhiliyya in Islam. Sulaymān ibn Mūsā asked him: did Ibn ʿAbbās relate this to you? He said: yes.
Ibn Jurayj said: ʿIkrima said: he named nine of the women with banners, but they were more numerous than that; these are the women with banners: Umm Mahzūl — slave-girl (jāriya) of al-Sāʾib ibn Abī l-Sāʾib al-Makhzūmī; Umm ʿUlayṭ — slave-girl of Ṣafwān ibn Umayya; Ḥanna the Copt — slave-girl of al-ʿĀṣ ibn Wāʾil; Mariya — slave-girl of Mālik ibn ʿUmayla ibn al-Sabbāq ibn ʿAbd al-Dār; Ḥalāla — slave-girl of Suhayl ibn ʿAmr; Umm Suwayd — slave-girl of ʿAmr ibn ʿUthmān al-Makhzūmī; Sarīfa — slave-girl of Zamʿa ibn al-Aswad; Farsa — slave-girl of Hishām ibn Rabīʿa ibn Ḥabīb ibn Ḥudhayfa ibn Jabal ibn Mālik ibn ʿĀmir ibn Luʾayy; and Quraybā — slave-girl of Hilāl ibn Anas ibn Jābir ibn Namar ibn Ghālib ibn Fahr.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid; and al-Zuhrī and Qatāda said: there were in the jāhiliyya well-known fornicating women; certain Muslims wished to marry them, whereupon Allah revealed: الزَّانِي لا يَنْكِحُ إلا زَانِيَةً أَوْ مُشْرِكَةً وَالزَّانِيَةُ لا يَنْكِحُهَا إِلا زَانٍ أَوْ مُشْرِكٌ etc.
Others said: the meaning is — a man who commits fornication commits fornication only with a woman who commits fornication or a polytheist woman; and a woman who commits fornication has sexual intercourse only with a man who commits fornication or a polytheist. They said: "nikāḥ" (marriage) here has the meaning of sexual intercourse (jimāʿ).
Mention of those who said this:
Hannād related to us, saying: Abū l-Aḥwaṣ related to us, on the authority of Ḥuṣayn, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning الزَّانِي لا يَنْكِحُ إلا زَانِيَةً أَوْ مُشْرِكَةً — he said: he commits fornication only with a woman who commits fornication or a polytheist woman.
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Yaʿlā ibn Muslim, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr — he said: وَالزَّانِيَةُ لا يَنْكِحُهَا إِلا زَانٍ أَوْ مُشْرِكٌ — he said: a fornicator commits fornication only with a woman who resembles him in fornication or with a polytheist woman.
Al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Ibn Shubruma, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr and ʿIkrima, concerning الزَّانِي لا يَنْكِحُ إلا زَانِيَةً أَوْ مُشْرِكَةً — they said: it concerns sexual intercourse.
ʿAlī related to us, saying: ʿAbdallāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiyah related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning الزَّانِي لا يَنْكِحُ إلا زَانِيَةً أَوْ مُشْرِكَةً — he said: a believing man who commits fornication has fornicating intercourse only with a woman who resembles him in fornication or with a polytheist woman. And a believing woman who commits fornication has fornicating intercourse only with a man who resembles her from among the believers or a polytheist from outside them. Then Allah said: وَحُرِّمَ ذَلِكَ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ .
Others said: this was Allah's ruling concerning every fornicator and every fornicating woman, until it was abrogated by His saying وَأَنْكِحُوا الأَيَامَى مِنْكُمْ (marry off the unmarried among you), after which marriage with every Muslim woman and the marrying of every Muslim man was permitted.
Mention of those who said this:
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab — he said: it is held that the verse which comes after it abrogated it: وَأَنْكِحُوا الأَيَامَى مِنْكُمْ . He said: they belong to the unmarried Muslim women.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj — he said: Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd informed me, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab — he said: the verse which comes after it abrogated it: وَأَنْكِحُوا الأَيَامَى مِنْكُمْ . And he said: they belong to the unmarried Muslim women.
Abū Jaʿfar (Imam al-Ṭabarī) said: The most correct opinion concerning this, in my judgment, is the opinion of those who said that "nikāḥ" in this place means sexual intercourse (waṭʾ), and that the verse came down concerning the well-known fornicating women (baghāyā al-mushrikāt) with banners. This is because the proof is established that a fornicating Muslim woman is forbidden to every polytheist, and a fornicating Muslim man is forbidden to every polytheist woman among the idolaters. When this is so, it is clear that the verse does not mean that a fornicating believing man may not conclude a valid marriage contract with a chaste Muslim woman, or that he may marry only a fornicating or polytheist woman. When this is so, it is clear that the meaning of the verse is: a man who commits fornication commits fornication only with a woman who does not deem fornication forbidden, or with a polytheist woman who deems it permissible.
His saying وَحُرِّمَ ذَلِكَ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ (and that is forbidden to the believers) — Allah says: fornication is forbidden to whoever believes in Allah and His Messenger. This is the "nikāḥ" (intercourse) concerning which Allah, exalted is His praise, said: الزَّانِي لا يَنْكِحُ إلا زَانِيَةً .
